The Masks We Wear
by MondayMornings13
Summary: When Castle and Beckett arrive at the crime scene, they sure weren't expecting this. With lack of evidences that drives a certain detective crazy, the pair tries to solve this unusual case envolving a quite "peculiar" serial killer. (Season 5)
1. Chapter 1

___Author's Note: Heeey__ guys, this is kind of my first attempt at writing a fanfic, so...please be nice to your little collegue here :)) Also, this story is based on a game called "Cause of Death", it actually follows the same line except that, now, we can see our favorite OTP trying to solve the same case. Thanks and enjoy :D_

**_Chapter 1:_**

Kate opened her eyes just to meet a peaceful snoring Castle by her side; her mornings had been exactly the same as the very first time they slept together, except for the fact that this time she wouldn't have to go hiding as soon as Martha came by the door.

She was lost in her thoughts when a sleepy "Hey" brought her back, "Morning" she answered leaning over to kiss him, it was a sweet and quick kiss but she could still feel the spark and electricity that ran through her body, which made her smile.

-Well, somebody is a morning person. Something happened yerterday?- his blue eyes shinned with curiosity, his writer side showing up again, wanting to know the story behind everything, one of the many things she found adorkable and irresistibly hot at the same time.

-Yes something happened yesterday…- she teased.

-Wait, was it something about that case? Oh I knew it, it was a werewolf wasn't it? Those wounds and the howl…Why didn't you tell me?

Beckett rolled her eyes -Castle, would you let me finish? It was nothing related to the case, what I was trying to say is that yesterday I had…

-Oh I get it, Lanie told you something interesting wasn't it? What was it? Was it about Esposito and her? 'Cause if that's so, I don't think I wanna know. But if it was something about corpses and blood or…

Good… he had lost it again. She could still remember how annoyed she would get when he started blabbering around about some crazy theory or just another featured videogame, usually she would just ignore him and look for evidence at the crime scene but they were in bed now and she had nowhere to run, so she just waited for it to pass naturally.

-or some new toxin that could kill someone in less than 1min but would go totally imperceptible inside the body because of the temperature and…and… you're giving me the look again…I'm going to shut my mouth now…so you can…ahn…talk…about…what were you saying?

-No, no, keep going Castle I don't wanna ruin your moment.

-Hey, no sorry- Castle said putting her hair behind her ear, which made her heart race. 5 years and he could still make her feel like a teenage girl with uncontrolled hormones all over her body -You have all the right to be mad at me, but seriously, now I want to know, yesterday?...

He was raising his eyebrow making everything harder than it already was, god, he really was ruggedly handsome, what even mattered telling him what happened yesterday she just wanted to rip their clothes off right now. Kate was about to speak when her cellphone vibrated, damn, it was Esposito. Beckett answered it, damn 2, another case…by the corner of her eyes she saw a very unhappy puppy dog Richard Castle dying with curiosity.

-Castle, C'mon, we've got a case-Beckett tapped his leg after hanging up and getting out of the bed.

-What, now? But you were about to tell me the- so- mysterious- thing- that- happened- yesterday and I'm shortening it, for now, this thing shall go as TMTTHY… WAIT OOOH NO, NO, IT SHALL GO AS TIMOTHY, IT'S LIKE A SECRET CODE.

The detective was already running around the loft and had stopped listening after "I'm shortening it" what mattered now was the victim, the crime scene and what the hell she was going to wear. She decided to go classic, beige Burberry blazer, basic grey shirt, slacks and of course her high heels.

When she was done, Rick was not even close to dressed; he was like a 5 year old child, who didn't want to go to school, taking hours to just put his pants on. She couldn't complain though, in fact, the now teenage-with-hormones-beckett took that moment to admire her boyfriend, his muscular chest and arms, his scruffy hair, his lips, his deep blue eyes. Their eyes met and Castle couldn't resist those green brownish eyes checking him out, he walked towards her, pulled her closer and they started kissing, gentle at first but even Beckett gave up and responded with equal passion and savagery, their tongues trying to capture each other's sweet taste. Kate's mind was racing and before her conscious side could make her stop, her hands were already running through Castle's hair and body. His lips had, now, encountered her collarbone and, slowly, made all their way back to her mouth where they shared one last long kiss and pulled each other apart with kindness, both breathless but with silly smiles on their faces.

When they arrived at the crime scene, everybody was already there. They walked through the dead end and Kate noticed that there was no trace of blood assuming that maybe the victim was killed in another place or the killer was one of the murder-and-clean type. They crossed the yellow strip just to find Esposito and Ryan waiting for them.

-Good morning ya all, you guys are late again- Esposito bullied

-Well detective Esposito, do you really want to know, because I could…- before Castle could finish, Kate cut him off.

-Yeah, ok, Castle. So what do we have here?

Ryan consulted his little notebook and answered – The victim's name is Sofia Miller, she's 24 according to her driver's license and was found by Claire Stiles at 1:00am, when she was taking the trash out.

-And what about the murder weapon?- Castle inquired, Beckett was wondering the same thing, but she knew that he would ask that, how did she know that? It was still a mystery but it worked just fine to her.

-We tried to look inside the dumpster again, but CSU found nothing, now they're just looking for evidence but looks like this one is a tough one. Hey Lanie- Esposito said winking at her and flexing his muscles, which she chose to ignore, but it still made her blush a little.

-She has no signs of struggle, only a little pinch on her neck which I'll be able to examine at the lab along with…this…-the forensic analyst said pulling back the black sheet that was covering the cadaver so the pair could take a look.

As she did so, a sudden shiver went down through Kate's spine, she had seen many corpses before, but this one was different, where there should be Sofia's face, laid only a heavy white plaster mask, which the killer probably used to suffocate her. Beckett's mind was working again, trying to connect the dots, her eyebrows frowning like they always did when she was thinking too hard about something. Her concentration, however, was broken when Castle shouted:

-No way! I know this work, this one's easy. I already know who the killer is.

The team turned their heads in synch with an interrogation look on their faces.

-Care to share the information, Castle? - Beckett asked, more like demanded, she hated when their connection was off.

-You guys don't know? It has to be the Maskmaker, look at her, casually dressed, 20-30 year old woman AND the most obvious of the evidences, she's wearing a white mask.

Ryan nodded all the time but then realized that he didn't really get it, who was the Maskmaker? He'd never heard of him before. As he looked to his colleagues he saw that he was not the only one, they didn't get it either. Esposito took courage and asked one more time:

-Sorry to ruin your moment of epiphany Castle, but we don't know who the guy is. Maybe if you tell us his name…

-That's the point! He doesn't have a name because he was never caught. From what I know, this guy has killed 8 girls before, all of them were young and beautiful and all of them were left with only a…white….mask….

-Ms. Parish, the ambulance is ready to take the victim to the Precinct- a tall young man with copper hair said out of nowhere, making Esposito jump.

-Thank you, Sam. Oh I totally forgot, guys, this is Sam Travis, he's my new intern and will be assisting me on this case.

-Well then, let's go back to the precinct; maybe there we'll be able to find new information. – Beckett couldn't stand being there any further, the lack of evidence was driving her crazy and the fact that Castle and his theories were the only useful source of the killer's background history, didn't quite help her think straight.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2:_**

Back at the 12th, Esposito and Ryan were at full throttle, trying to track down the victim's financial history, while Castle and Beckett wrote everything on the white board. Suddenly, a short, black haired and with teary green eyes, woman stormed out of the elevator screaming:

-WHERE IS HE? WHO KILLED MY LITTLE SOFIA?

Uniforms surrounded her, trying to prevent the crazy lady from doing something dangerous, but it only made her squirm and shout even more. Beckett and the boys ran through the hallway to see what was happening, when they got there, Kate slowed down and approached the woman with caution; she didn't want to complicate things more than it already was by intimidating her. She understood, better than anyone, how uncontrollable a person could get after the death of a beloved one and that the best solution was to let them speak all of their anger out.

She ordered the cops to release the woman, which they hesitated to do so, but eventually obeyed the detective. Beckett tranquilized her, by saying that nobody there was going to hurt her and that she was the detective responsible for her daughter's case. The woman stared at the so-called-detective that was, now, walking calmly towards her, she didn't conveyed any kind of threat, nor did she seemed scared, in fact, that strange statuesque figure looked like someone really willing to help. With some effort and talk, Kate gained that woman's trust. Her name was Nadia Miller and she was the victim's mother.

As the two women made their way to the break room and the Precinct went back to its normality, Beckett noticed that Castle was following her, she gave him a quick glance and he nodded in comprehension. That poor woman was obviously scared, confused and hurt; Kate wanted to do this alone.

She closed the door and sat on the other side of the coffee table, remaining silent for a while, in cases like this, silence was the best way to show people your respect, it gave them time, even if short, to process things up.

-I'm very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Miller-Beckett started, trying not to sound too intimate or too cold.

-You know…We were just starting to get along and then…then…this…she…YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS?! TO WAKE UP AND FIND THE WORD "MURDERED" AFTER YOUR DAUGHTER'S NAME?! – Tears ran down the woman's cheeks as she spoke.

Beckett could feel the pain through Nadia's voice and it made her mind return to Joanna Beckett's murder, which, unfortunately, she still remembered clearly. For instants, Kate felt all the anger, sadness, desperation and agony rush back to her, making a flame, long asleep, burn inside of her again.

She blinked and drove those grievous thoughts off her head. Sofia's mother was there, right in front of her, crying. She needed to concentrate on extracting everything that could give her a new lead.

-We're trying everything we can ma'am, but you've got to help me with this too. When was the last time you saw her?

Nadia sniffed and looking down to the floor, she answered:

-I…I think it was right before she went to the club…I can't remember its name, though, but I do remember it being 8 o'clock when she took the car keys and left…I should've stopped her…I…should've

-Nadia, look, it's not your fault…The only human being worth blaming is the crazy man who killed Sofia. Now, I know you can do better than this, you said she was going to a club, did she go alone?

-Wait…now that you mentioned it…she did say she was going to meet a friend there…it was Liz I guess, her old roommate.

Kate and Nadia looked at each other, both with the same expression on their faces, they both knew now that the team had a new lead and it brought them a feeling that, maybe, everything would work out just fine.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3:_**

When Kate got out, she didn't even had to say a word, Castle was already there by her side, the car keys hanging on his finger, Ryan and Espo were still trying to get the killer's background so she just shouted a "I've got a new lead, I'll talk to you guys soon" and left.

Liz's house wasn't so far, it was close to the Chinese neighborhood where the crew always got their food from, Kate noticed that Castle was way too quiet, not that the case had much to comment on, but still, it felt weird coming from him.

-You're quiet today, something happened?

-Nah, just you know, trying to formulate some ideas, but nothing, I've got nothing… – he was clearly upset about this, she knew that feeling too well, it was frustrating, feeling like, maybe, Nadia would never be able to find out who killed her daughter, that maybe, she would never be at peace, that maybe, her pain would never go away even for a tiny bit.

"We're here", Kate said parking the car right in front of the house's yard. She knocked and the TV sound went off, running steps and silence, she knocked again, nothing. "Liz, NYPD, open up, we're not going to hurt you, we're here because of your friend, Sofia Miller", slow footsteps came from the inside of the house and then, finally, a scared, blond girl opened the door, Beckett showed her the badge and Liz stepped away so they would come in.

They walked in silence through the hall and entered the living room, right on top of the table which contained photos of, what Beckett thought it was, a very young Liz and her parents, was a picture of Sofia and her, both of them smiling and with their arms on each other's shoulder, it was took two years ago.

Beckett and Castle sat on the couch as Liz brought them coffee, they thanked her and she, too, sat down. Again, silence was all that they could hear, until Kate said, softly but still as a detective:

-You and Sofia were very good friends right? Do you know of anyone who would try to kill her?

-Yeah… I've known her for 2 years and she was already like a sister to me. We would tell each other everything, from boys, to cereal and we were able to do that for hours and still have things to say on the next day. To still think that we kind of hated each other on the start is, actually, a little bit funny… - the blond girl smiled, a sad and short smile.

Kate had questioned so many people that she had categories to each type of person and as she could see, Liz didn't seem the kind to answer questions with an objective response. The detective would have to try a new approach.

-Liz, this is very important, I need you to stay as objective as possible ok? – the girl nodded and Kate continued – On your conversations, did she tell you about anyone that was angry with her? Maybe an ex-boyfriend?

-Oh no, no, she had only been with three boys on her life and all of them took the end of their relationship pretty well, I mean, nothing that a lot of ice cream wouldn't solve. I still remember the day when she called me up at night and cried because of Jason, of how in love they were but they knew that they wouldn't work out so they broke up and I kinda fell asleep during the whole story…

Castle began to move uneasily beside her, he was clearly anxious, that girl wasn't giving them what they wanted to hear, Beckett was also trying to stay on her nerves, they both knew that it would take more than they expected and time is a precious thing on a murder investigation. Not that she didn't understand what the girl was going through, people react to death on different ways, but she was not there to listen to all the good times the two girls had had, she was there because the flame that was burning inside of her, wouldn't be extinguished until that case was solved.

Kate opened her mouth to try to, once more, interrogate Liz, but was interrupted by Castle:

-Hey, ahm, Liz, listen, are you listening to me? Good. Just…look, do you want us to catch the man who killed your friend? – he said that like he was talking to a kid, which Beckett found very funny, after all, HE was always the child on their relationship.

Liz nodded vehemently and started to say something, but he silenced her raising his hand and telling her to wait until he finished.

-We can see that your friendship was more than fantastic, but we need the right answers so we can finally make that relationship you had with her worth every second, we need to put an end to this horrible story, ok? So tell us…tell us..ahm… what should she tell us Beckett?

Kate rolled her eyes, he was a pain in the ass sometimes but he was good with the words, Liz, actually, seemed to be more focused and determined now.

-We spoke with Sofia's mother and she said that you two went to a club last night, could you tell us the name of it?

-Oh yeah, sure, it was such a good club, Sofia had talked about that…and…no, objectivity, right, the name was "The Zen Club" it's just down this avenue.

-And how long did you two stay in there?

-Oh it wasn't that much, we arrived there at 21:00, 21:30 and left one hour later, the bartender was making her feel uncomfortable, grabbing her, looking at her, well, when she couldn't stand it anymore, she threw the martini on his face and we walked out, he shouted and said she would pay for it, but she didn't care…

That made the pair share the "we-have-a-new-suspect" look, there was only one thing left to ask, a name.

-Do you remember the guy's name, Liz?

-Ohhh….let me think….Something like, gay…hooray…Ser…Sergey, yes that was the name, how could I forget, it was also the name of one of my boyfriends and…

But Liz didn't finish her sentence as Beckett and Castle were already standing up, thanking her for the coffee and making their way out through the door. It didn't upset her at all, that man's words were stuck on her head, yes, she knew deep in her heart that those two were going to make her memories with Sofia last forever; they would give her a voice.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4:_**

Visiting clubs at day time was always a weird thing, no music, no lights and certainly no people, apart from the bartenders cleaning the balcony and the manager yelling all sorts of tasks to the staff. But the "The Zen Club" succeeded in being even more peculiar and exotic, Castle made a mental note to never let Alexis go to that club, it was not the skull shaped dance floor that shocked him, but the pieces of bamboo coming out of the walls and spilling a green alienish liquid that fell into a pool of heads, from the ceiling chinese lanters hung making both, Kate and Castle, almost hit their faces on them. There was nothing Zen about that place.

Beckett walked to the manager, a tiny, corpulent guy, wearing a shirt that was wet underneath his armpits; he was walking around like a crazy cockroach.

-Excuse me, sir, I'm looking for one of your employees, a guy nam...

-DON'T! STOP! HEY YOU, DAVIS, DON'T PUT THAT CHAIR IN THERE MAN YOU'RE MESSING WITH THE FENG SHUI.

Kate was stunned for a brief moment, did he just ignored her and yelled at her face?

-SIR- she said, the power of authority in her voice, Castle even looked at her and muttered a little "Like it". The man stopped and found a badge in front of his face; that seemed to make him understand the gravity of the situation and, of course, take a look at the tall and astonishing woman that was standing there.

-Oh, hello there, I'm sorry but you know how those incompetents are. Can I do something to help you? Should I offer you a private room so you can make yourself more comfortable?

Castle moved to confront the guy, but Kate blocked him.

-We're not here for this, Mr...Abadea. I believe you've seen the news, the girl wearing a mask? We're trying to solve her case, so could you tell me Where Can I find Sergey? The bartender?

The detective said every word loud and clear, even the toughest guy would fear her. Abadea just pointed to the bar, looking like a scared kid.

Sergey was washing some glasses at the sink and when he saw Beckett, the badge and her face, he didn't think twice and ran pushing everybody out of the way, Kate was used to that and dashed almost simultaneously, while Castle took a few seconds to catch her up.

The skinny bartender was very easy to spot through the streets of NY because of his red mohican, but he was fast and although Beckett was toe to toe with him, she needed a strategy.

Sergey turned left and crossed an agitated avenue where he almost got hit by a car, Kate went after him, her eyes fixed on the suspect, she wouldn't let the guy escape, she couldn't, Nadia and Liz were counting on her. Running as fast as she could, she didn't see the huge bus that was, now, coming her way. Castle saw her distraction and although the driver was hitting the breaks, he knew that there was no hope, he was going too fast and the distance was too short. Soon they would collide.

3m now, Castle's muscles tensed and his heart stopped, he didn't know what to do, he saw Beckett in front of him, the bus getting closer and closer every second, her life would be taken away, he would never taste her soft lips again or stroke her curly and perfect hair that always made him think of the sun, she would never wake up by his side, her hand placed on his chest and their hearts beating like one, he would never feel whole again… "no, NO, NO!", he shouted, silencing all those horrible thoughts inside his head, he wasn't going to lose her, not again, not like this.

Panicking on the inside, he rushed in an abnormal speed. 1m, he could feel the pain from the collision already, what was he thinking? He wasn't the fucking superman! He wasn't able to save her when she was shot, how would he save her from a bus that was centimeters away from them and fast? Why couldn't he just save her? Just be with the remarkable, maddening, challenging and frustrating woman he would always love?

Just when he was ready to die, he felt Beckett on his arms and after that, everything happened like a blink of an eye. When he opened his eyes, they were both on the other side of the street, the giant bus honking at high speed through the avenue behind them. He assumed that the only collision that had happened was the one caused by him pushing Kate out of the bus' way and into the hard cement of the sidewalk.

There were a few scratches on Beckett's arms and his shoulders throbbed, but it didn't matter, Kate was safe, she was alive, his safe harbor was alright, finally, the terror was over and his heart could start beating again.

Stunned and puffing they looked at each other. Fear, confusion and frustration was all he saw on those marvelous green eyes that he had always loved since the first time they met. She knew that if they ever had a chance on catching the suspect it was long gone now. God only knew how it infuriated her, how it always made her think of her mother with a disapproval look on her face and how it hurt. But, then, suddenly, Rick was there, his gentle smile and beautiful blue eyes, telling her that everything would be fine and how deeply loved she was. It was true, Sergey was already far away, but she understood that, right now, the most important thing was that she was alive. Once again, her favorite writer had saved her.


End file.
